Civilian Uprising against Barrick Gold in Tanzania

Private security at Barrick Gold’s North Mara Gold Mine, in Tanzania shot a young man, Mang’weina Mwita Mang’weina. Two to three thousand villagers responded by storming the minesite and destroying about $7million in equipment.

read about it at The Dominion

have a look at my photo essay Someone Else’s Treasure – Tanzania, for background on why people in Tanzania are so angry.

The photo below gives one clue. This is a water hole right next to the North Mara Gold Mine (the edge of the mine pit  can be seen in the upper left corner of the image), which was built by Barrick as a gift to win the favour of the people who live nearby. But the water appears to be milky in colour and the trees surrounding it appear to be dying. Many of the people living nearby say people are angry because thousands of people in the area have lost their homes, their livelihoods, and loved ones. Public perception in the are is that Barrick is largely responsible for many of their problems there. One family living right on the edge of the mine pit explained that they “had never experienced poverty before the mine came”.